Yes! With this new technology, people will be free to completely ignore their surroundings and the people around them. Reality will only have to assert itself, well, when ones about to walk into a fountain.

Railroads already analyze audio of train wheels, using microphones on tracks to listen for growling bearings and software to spot the anomalies. But it's not real time, and takes a person to make a judgment on the wheels deemend out of spec.

The potential here is really limitless! Think of the military apllications - it would be impossible to surprise a soldier, because the device could be "trained " to pick up the faintest sounds and recognize them as an enemy's steps. Also medical - what is the sound of a heart about to suffer a heart attack or of an arterry about to burst?

As InformationWeek Government readers were busy firming up their fiscal year 2015 budgets, we asked them to rate more than 30 IT initiatives in terms of importance and current leadership focus. No surprise, among more than 30 options, security is No. 1. After that, things get less predictable.